Should an audio system be left on at all times?

Kijanki,

So the wear of higher operating temperature exceeds the wear of powering your system up and down everytime you want to listen?

Interesting. I listen to music pretty much every evening I am home. That would mean turning the system on and off everyday. I agree with other posts that it takes time for the wires to warm up (I have long runs of speaker cable), so what is the difference in waiting for the amp and other electronics to come to operating temperature too? I have been leaving my gear on thinking it was better for longevity. Maybe its time to rethink that.

Well, no matter what, having your amp off most of the time will save electricity. You can use the money you save on your power bill to go stimulate the economy...

The original questions was: "Should an audio system be left on at all times?" I think a more appropriate question would have been "Should an audio system be left on at all times to enhance performance during each listening event", or "Should an audio system be left on at all times to increase longevity"? Frankly, I don't really care about the latter.

For me, it is all about whether my system sounds good when I sit down to listen in the brief windows of time my current life affords. If leaving my source and amp on all the time in order to shorten warm-up period for listening is a valid concept, then I will do that. If not, then I am just wasting electricity. I did not buy this gear to have it sound less than optimal for a period of 30 minutes to several days each time I sit down to listen over many many years. If it breaks, I will replace it with something better.